


Dragon Dreams

by k_itsmay



Category: Akatsuki no Yona | Yona of the Dawn
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Canonical Character Death, Complete, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Father-Son Relationship, Gen, Headcanon, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Originally Posted on Tumblr, i think, uh
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-07
Updated: 2016-07-07
Packaged: 2018-07-22 03:11:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,205
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7417315
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/k_itsmay/pseuds/k_itsmay
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Only in their wildest dreams would the dragons ever meet their predecessors again. So it is in their dreams they do.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. White Dragon's Pride

**Author's Note:**

> "for a while i’ve had this idea that is basically…if somehow, the current dragons were to meet their predecessors (and i added the first generation too to the idea), what would they say to each other?  
> naturally, first up is Kija! it’s the very first time i’ve written anything Kija related so i hope i got his character right ; v ;"

_There were so many things that I wanted to talk to him about. And then, after speaking my name just once, my father never opened his eyes again._

_…Why am I having this dream again?_

“Kija…”

_That voice…! Father?!_

When he came to, Kija was standing in a small room. Surrounded by tall, stone walls and completely dark if not for the single open window near the wooden door, there was a single bed directly across from him. He recognised this room. Isolated from the White Dragon Village outside, all that could be seen from the window were the dense forests of the mountains and the birds in the branches. It was the one place Kija’s father ever touched him - in the beginning of Kija’s, and at the end of his own.

“Kija…?”

He spun around, and in the centre of the room was an aging man. Even without the shimmering scales as white as winter snow embedded in his skin or dragon claws stemming from his fingers like swords, Kija knew who this man was. And feeling the strange lightheaded sensation he had as though he was floating off the ground he was, he simply stared at his father in shock.

Kija’s father smiled, “Granny has certainly been raising you well.”

 _Does he know…?_ Kija’s face fell and his throat began to clog. He stared at his hands, the White Dragon’s Claw in his right and an ordinary human hand on the left, both worn and dirty from the battles and harsh conditions of traveling through the lands.

“Father, I…” he hesitated, fumbling all the words in his head around. “The Princess…King Hiryuu’s reincarnation…” His eyes refused to move from his hands. “I am…currently fulfilling my destiny…as the White Dragon, Hakuryuu.”

 _When the Previous Hakuryuu received his death sentence and saw the newly born Hakuryuu with a future ahead of him, he gave it a mark of desperation,_ he had said to Jae-Ha that afternoon at the hot springs _. This is the passion of wanting to serve the king. As one of the four dragons, I’ll take this passion carved on my back, and I’ll live._

His resolve to live and fulfill his destiny was as strong as it ever had been, and he refused to let any outside opinions change it. But to be telling his father, a Hakuryuu with a sense of duty as strong as his was, that he was the one serving King, was the only thing that had ever made him feel unsure about his pride.

“Kija, I am not concerned about serving the King anymore,” he said softly.

Kija’s eyes widened and he looked up to see his father with a sullen face. “But–”

His father smiled gently. “I was Hakuryuu for only most of my life, not all of it. I had eight whole years to accept that the time the King would come to find the Dragon Warriors again was not mine. Although I could not stop myself from regretting not living long enough to serve him, there was another act I committed that I could never forgive myself for.” In his sky blue eyes a tinge of grief as grey as rainy clouds passed through. “Kija…Are there still scars on your back?”

All hesitation disappeared from Kija as he answered straight, “Yes.” Almost being able to see his father’s heart shatter, he continued, “However, it is proof of your existence, of your unbreakable sense of duty to the King that may or may not ever need the four dragon warriors in their lifetime, Father. It is the same for all of us.” He softened, “Not once in my entire life have I ever felt ill will towards you, even in the times we met under supervision and you were distant. I understood, Father, from when I was young, that it was not envy towards my future that caused you to barely speak to me. And…” his vision began to blur behind the welling tears, “When Granny asked me to forgive you, I told her there was nothing to forgive you for.

“So please, Father, you don’t have to feel guilty…” Kija’s voice shook. “I’m…okay…”

Right in front of his eyes, a father saw his son. He saw a young man nearing his 20s, standing tall with strong shoulders and an even stronger spirit. But the spirit even as strong as Kija’s then was accompanied with a gentle soul that stepped in front of it and allowed him to cry when he needed to. He could only imagine how much his comrades must have valued him, both as a Dragon but also as a precious friend. Meeting King Hiryuu himself must have brought even more than the fulfillment of his destiny planned - life-long friendships, and a loving family.

“Thank you,” he closed his eyes for a few moments, a sense of peace finally arising in his heart. “I never thought I day would come where I would be allowed to say this: Kija, I am proud of you.” He opened his eyes and smiled at Kija again. “Please tell me about the King. I would love to know what kind of person he is.”

Kija’s eyes brightened with joy as he wiped away his tears. “Oh, King Hiryuu’s reincarnation is a girl, the Princess, Princess Yona.” A smile as bright as the white sun widened on his lips. “She is absolutely wonderful.” Although his father had asked about the Princess in particular, Kija could not wait to tell him all about Hak and Yoon and Shin-Ah, Jae-Ha and Zeno, and all the other irreplaceable people he had met on his journey.


	2. Golden Eyes and Fireflies

_I’m alright now. Even without the sound of the bells, I’ll be able to call out to him. Would he laugh if I told him I made some friends?_

_I can’t even remember the face of that person so dear to me anymore…_

_Ao’s robust figure stood above the tall grass, solid and unmoving even against the coldest winds of the night. His long and pale blue hair followed behind his back beneath the night sky as he walked, slowly moving away into the distance. Seiryuu remembered falling over a rock as he lay on his stomach in the grass and dirt. But Ao kept walking, and Seiryuu called out with his small voice, “Ao, don’t leave me!” When he stood up, he saw Ao’s large hand open until his fingers loosely hung from his palm._

As though reenacting the past, he reached his hand out, “Ao–!” He froze upon noticing his deepened voice. “Ao!” He stood up, and suddenly Ao wasn’t nearly as big as he remembered him to be.

Seiryuu watched Ao turn around to face him. But strangely, even with the Blue Dragon’s Eyes that could see into distances and hearts, it was too dark to see the face behind the long, blue bangs. “Woah,“ he said, “you’ve gotten really tall, huh Seiryuu?”

 _Tall?_ He looked at his hands and saw them in black fingerless gloves, then at the robe lined with thick white fur and the necklaces dangling from his neck. _This…this isn’t that time…_ A freezing wind flew past and ran chills up his neck. His hand grasped the back of his neck. _Mask…? I’m…_

“You know, you’re awfully quiet, Seiryuu,” Ao snorted, “considering how you would never shut up as a kid.”

“Shin-Ah…”

“Huh?”

“I’m…Shin-Ah…now…”

Ao stood still as Shin-Ah looked up from his hands. Bright green fireflies began to emerge from between the blades of grass. “Yona, that person, she gave me…my name, Shin-Ah.” His voice began to raise with excitement, “She said…I was….like the moon in the night sky. Yoon, Hak, Zeno, Kija, Jae-Ha, everyone calls me that now–”

“Hold up! Wait a second!” Ao laughed, and Shin-Ah could see his teeth now. “Sei…Shin-Ah, was it? You’re not making any sense! Who are these people?”

Of course, Ao didn’t know who Yona and the others were. Shin-Ah parted his lips in thought. “They’re…my friends…” Shin-Ah then shook his head firmly, “No, they’re family.”

The fireflies continued to rise, and behind the dim orbs of light his golden eyes sparkled. “Yona…brought me out of the dark caves into the light, where I can spread my arms and legs as far as I want. And we all travel together to new places, to help people around the country. I’ve been to the sea, Ao, and even past the borders–”

All that passed through Ao’s mind was the memory of towering over the child in the hut in the Blue Dragon Village with a booming voice, _‘Oh, that’s right! You_ are _cursed! The Seiryuu is a monster!!’_ That day, the boy had ventured out of the house and shyly asked the other children if he could play, only to be met with hysteric screaming as they scrambled away. “’To help people’, huh…” Impossible, he thought. He couldn’t even begin to imagine a Blue Dragon living outside of miserable loneliness, out of isolated villages or deep caves underground, with a family no less. “And, they’re not scared of you at all? Who is this Yona person?”

“…Kija said she’s…King Hiryuu, the Red Dragon…She’s not scared of me, no one is.”

Standing underneath the stars, Ao felt the cold wind blow through his hair. “You mean to tell me the legend of the four dragons is actually true…?” Ao placed his head into his palm and began to chuckle. It grew louder, and louder, until his voice was loud enough to echo in the wind that flew by.

Shin-Ah’s chest began to shrink as pain filled Ao’s laugh. He knew that for Ao’s entire life he was treated like a monster whose only purpose was to spill the blood of escapees and bandits who jeopardised the village’s secret. He had probably lived the vast majority of his life without a soul keeping him company too, and no red haired king ever came to save him from his darkness.

The night grew quiet again, and Ao looked down at his feet. “Hey kid, I can’t see you that well, even with these fireflies around.” Ao dropped his hand to his side, “Come closer.”

Shin-Ah began to step through the long grass towards the larger man. Closer and closer he inched towards him, and more of him he began to see. With every step taken he could see another short hair on his stubble, and the tips of the crimson red marks on his cheeks appeared in his view.

He hadn’t expected the boy to have grown so tall, not at all. When Shin-Ah stopped just in front of him he was only half a head shorter then, compared to when he only reached the height of his hip, and his entire hand fit around a single one of Ao’s fingers. But in his golden eyes he found the same softness and childlike curiosity as he remembered in him, and the same warmness. Although not as bright and radiant as the sun, it was enough to serve in the dark, cold night--

–-That was where the name came from.

“Moonlight…that really suits you,” Ao let a small smile slip. He took another look at Shin-Ah. Unlike him, Ao had trained his body almost excessively to build muscle, and possessed a snarl that was enough to make even Chishin soldiers cower in fear. Shin-Ah, although tall, looked smaller underneath the thick vest and dangling necklaces that reached all the way down to his waist. But at the same time, his eyes were still sharp, the Blue Dragon’s after all, and any wrong move could end in an arm sliced off.

Calm yet bright, lighting up the darkness like the moon, yet brooding and observant even behind the foggiest clouds. But even so, the kind and comforting aura around him was stronger than all else about him, Ao thought.

“You know, on someone like you, the Blue Dragon’s eyes are actually beautiful.”

Shin-Ah widened his eyes and looked up at Ao, whose eyes he could now finally see.

“You’re different from me, you know? Even when the villagers treated you like shit you genuinely wanted to protect them no matter what. It made you a stronger and kinder human being.” He scoffed, “But me? I became the monster they made me out to be. I hated them, I hated the Blue Dragon, and I hated myself. And no matter how much I told myself tearing down the bastards that tried to take from our village was just a job, it was the only way I could release that hatred.”

 _Ao was strict._ Ao was bitter. Even though he and Shin-Ah lived under the same circumstances, the same curse, Ao wanted better. He didn’t really believe he deserved it, but that didn’t stop him from wanting it - to be free, to be loved.

Tears began to well up in Ao’s eyes, “Shin-Ah, I’m sorry, I’m sorry I had to leave you alone…”

_“I’m sorry…I’m going to leave you all alone.” The walk back to the village was unbearably quiet, even with the rings of the small bells tied to Seiryuu’s mask. And when the day broke after an eternity of silence, Ao was lying in the dirt, unmoving._

Shin-Ah finally understood the beauty Yona, Yoon, Kija, Jae-Ha and even the stranger girls in the villages they visited had found in his eyes. Inside Ao’s he could see the deepest pains and tiniest sparks of happiness he had bottled inside for his entire life in the gold irises. “Ao, I’m alright now,” he said gently, “Yona and the others accept me. I’ll follow them for as long as they call the moonlight name Yona gave me.” He looked into Ao’s eyes and smiled, “Thank you, Ao, for teaching me everything, and for helping me become who I am.”

Ao blinked away his tears and scoffed, scratching the back of his head.

“Yeah, whatever.”


	3. Envy as Green as Forest

_“Don’t ever come back here again, dumbass!!”_

_Through Garou’s final declaration of hate Jae-Ha saw pleading tears._ Run. _As the villagers pulled at Garou’s robes he shrieked with laughter._ Get away from here. _The man’s eyes usually diluted with derangement were finally clear, peeking from behind his disheveled and unwashed hair._ If you want freedom, go get it already!

_Seeing the villagers pull Garou’s collapsing body back, Jae-Ha’s face fell. When the villagers chased after him, he turned his head around, took a step and leaped off the ground with his dragon foot. Garou and the villagers, the dry huts, and even the tallest trees flew past Jae-Ha as he ascended into the clear skies._

_No more Garou, no more chains._

_He never looked back, nor did he want to, as he flew through the skies and wind to freedom._

Jae-Ha woke up surrounded by grass tickling his neck, and the warmth of sunlight seeping through the gaps between the leaves. He mumbled, “Yoon, what happened to the tent?” Not receiving an answer, Jae-Ha sat up, and as he looked around the forest full of thin trees and dry, long grass. In the midst of his swirling mind there was one solid feeling in his gut.

_I’m near the Green Dragon Village._

The first fall was the most painful, Jae-Ha remembered. He may have avoided the villagers’ arrows as he flew through the blue sky towards the forest, but he fell straight into trees. He tumbled and turned through the sharp branches and spiky leaves before falling face first into dirt that probably hadn’t touched water for decades.

And that was where he lay, strangely, at 25 years old in Kai Empire clothing he only could have found in Awa, alone when he should have been with Yona and her companions.

“You fell unconscious after falling through just a couple of trees? Even with the Green Dragon’s Leg, you’re pretty pathetic, Jae-Ha.”

Jae-Ha’s eyes widened. He quickly sat up, and sitting at the base of a tree he saw sharp eyes glaring at him. A smile emerged on his face, “Oh my, to be seeing you here, I must be in a lucid dream of some sort.” He chuckled, “There’s always something unpredictable the Dragon Blood has in store. Won’t you agree, Garou?”

“Please, all I did for my entire life was try to escape from the village until you were born, and then I was stuck chasing you to keep you on the ground when you tried to do the same.” Garou clicked his tongue, “I wouldn’t know anything other than that having the powers of a dragon sucks. I shouldn’t have come back when I found out you were born.”

Reflecting upon his more recent years, Jae-Ha’s memories begged to differ. The bliss he experienced soaring through the skies above the crystal sea and kicking down ugly men who dared to harm the innocent ladies in Awa, and to have a crew, a family, to be relied upon by was enough of a life for him. It was the same for Yona and the others.

Although, there was the heart wrenching fear he woke up with every morning, wondering if a new Green Dragon had been born to end his life. But when he could open a door or a tent flap and see a place he called home, a part of him didn’t mind if he had died that very day.

It seemed Garou caught onto his thoughts as he grunted, “You obviously don’t feel the same, since you’ve tasted freedom and all.”

“Oh, how can you tell?”

He scoffed, “It’s written all over you. Your hair’s clean, your clothes look a lot flashier than the ragged robes I remember you wearing, and you’ve got this light in your droopy eyes that sing of hope in the world. I was way younger than you when I lost all of that, living in that stupid Green Dragon Village where I was treated like shit everyday.”

Jae-Ha shifted his sight to the ground next to him, then back to Garou, “Wasn’t there a time you ran away?”

Garou frowned, “You really love asking that question, don’t you?”

“You never answered me.” Jae-Ha shrugged. “Look, you’re dead, and I’m talking to you in a lucid dream. Isn’t this one of those situations where we’re supposed to spill all our deepest feelings about having dragon blood, as the dragon and their predecessor? Of course, if you don’t want to I’ll just be on my way and wake up or something.”

“God, fine!” he growled. As he felt Jae-Ha’s eyes on him he backed further into the tree and straightened himself. “I lied about trying to escape for my whole life, but I did it once and succeeded, when I was 15.” Hearing a lack of response from Jae-Ha, his mind stumbled forward. “I’ve told you that no matter what I thought of myself, I really was a burden to everyone in the village. But before that point, I believed in the Legend of Hiryuu, and with my entire being all I wished for was for him to come for me, so I could run away from the village that hated me, and be free.”

In all honesty, Jae-Ha was surprised, in regards to both his story and the fact he actually opened up to him. Then again, Garou was unpredictable. On some days he would insult and mock everything about Jae-Ha as though grabbing his deepest hopes and dreams out of his heart and crushing it in his hands. And on others, he would sit in the hut with him in silence and accidentally blubber a sentimental confession every few minutes. Maybe it just so happened to be one of those times where he wasn’t in the mood to literally kill Jae-Ha.

“I didn’t even know what Hiryuu would want from me, nor did I care. I was sure that if he came for me that the village elder would let me go, that was all that mattered.”

_The Legend of the Four Dragons? A master I have to protect? That’s absurd! Having my fate decided for me from the time I was born goes against my aesthetic! Just watch me run away from my fate. If King Hiryuu appears, I’ll turn him down flat!_

Yet Jae-Ha was the one that met Yona, even if he never wanted to. That thought, and seeing Garou spill his innocent and naive wish to be with King Hiryuu was enough to make the stupid dragon blood squeeze his heart. He frowned, “So what changed?”

“Just before I ran away I had a thought that maybe…Hiryuu was somewhere close, looking for me, but couldn’t find me. So I thought, ‘I’ll find him instead’.” Garou snorted, “Stupid, wasn’t I? And so I ran. I left before the sun rose one morning and I just ran for days, even past this forest into the mountain wasteland. And over the course of those days I realised that…Hiryuu wasn’t looking for me. And when I began to believe it, I realised that even if I were free, there was nowhere to go, no one to meet. After that I realised I was…unneeded, and suddenly everything seemed to be in vain. I began to think about all the years the villagers were forced to take care of me, and how I could never help them because I’m…just useless dragon trash.” He paused. “That was when…you were born.”

A sudden realisation passed through Jae-Ha’s mind. _Kija and I aren’t so different after all._ Everything began to make sense. Garou’s behaviour, his treatment towards Jae-Ha all came from _envy_. Dark, green, envy. Garou just had his hopes stripped away from him in an instant, and suddenly he ran back to the village and saw the new Rokuryuu with potential.

_When the previous Hakuryuu received his death sentence and saw the newly born Hakuryuu with a future ahead of him, he gave it a mark of desperation._

Unlike Kija’s father, Garou wouldn’t have been punished for harming Jae-Ha. Garou wouldn’t have been taken away and shut into a tower isolated from the rest of the village and restricted to supervised interaction. So he continued to insult Jae-Ha. It was because he was taking away the life Garou still wanted to live deep down with King Hiryuu, that Garou hated him, not simply his existence itself.

“So, Jae-Ha, let me ask _you_ a question,” Garou’s voice hardened again. He looked up towards the young man standing in the tall grass across from him. “Do you hate me?”

Jae-Ha began to hum to himself as the wind began to blow through his hair. He then spoke, “When I desired freedom in my childhood, you were always the one who dragged me back down to the ground and chained me up. So to be honest, if you asked me this and I was still 12, I definitely would’ve said yes.” He looked at Garou sitting under the tree with a sad yet expectant look in his eyes. “But these past 13 years I’ve lived without you I spent growing up on a pirate ship with a wonderful crew and an even more amazing captain. I’ve moved past pointless grudges like that.

“I got it, you were like the village’s slave boy doing all the dirty work, dealing with me. I was literally stealing your powers and your life, so why wouldn’t you hate me?” Jae-Ha began to hesitate as he tried to tie his words together as best as possible. “Nothing would’ve changed, you know, if I lived for 13 whole years thinking about how much I hated you.”

“So you’re saying I didn’t matter to you, huh?”

Jae-Ha immediately shook his head, “No, I’m sorry, that’s not what I meant. Well, I may have hated you because you held me down, but after a few years I came to understand why you did that to me. But at that point I was already far, far away from here, and from you, that even if I didn’t understand why you treated me the way you did my life would’ve been the same. But there’s another reason why I don’t hate you, Garou.”

He looked up at him, “And what would that be?”

“Don’t you remember? You’re the one who helped me escape,” Jae-Ha said. “I never would’ve gotten out of there if you hadn’t done what you did. And this will be the only chance I’ll ever get to say it to you, so, Garou, thank you.” He saw Garou’s eyes widen behind his hair. “What you did for me back there, I took as an apology for everything you ever felt sorry for doing to me. You essentially gave me my freedom, and I was able to become the beautiful self I am today because of that.”

In Garou’s eyes Jae-Ha saw the smallest tears well, but he quickly blinked them away. “Pfft, you? Beautiful? Don’t make me laugh!”

Jae-Ha chuckled, “Garou, you might not know it, but there are a lot of beautiful people living in the world.” He coughed, “myself included.”

“Shut it, stupid Jae-Ha.”


End file.
